October 1, 2021

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Genre/Categories: Nonfiction, Memoir, Korean-American, Grief, Mothers/Daughters, Family Life

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Michelle Zauner shares about her Korean-American family, her childhood and young adult years, bonding over food, her relationship with her mother, and the grief of losing her mother to cancer.

My Thoughts:

I imagine you’ve seen Crying in H Mart on lots of lists lately! I fall hard for thoughtful memoirs, diverse stories, and family drama. There’s a great deal of buzz around Crying in H Mart, so I succumbed to the FOMO.

Although this is a story of loss and grief, I love the honest reflections, the descriptions of food shared, the memories triggered while grocery shopping, and various cultural aspects of the story. If I can’t relate to Michelle’s love for certain Korean food and traditions, I find it easy to connect her food story with my own cultural and family experiences.

This is a more extensive memoir than I had expected from the title. Thoughtful and poignant themes include family dynamics, mother/daughter relationships, loss, grief, cultural expectations, finding your voice, returning home as a young adult to care for a terminal parent, understanding, and reconciliation.

I knew this would be sad going in, but the angst of the mother/daughter relationship and grief made this a difficult read for me. Overall, I appreciate the insight into growing up Korean-American, all the cultural aspects, and Michelle’s transparency and lack of judgement while telling her story.

Recommended for fans of memoirs (especially from a culturally diverse perspective), for Korean-American readers, and for those who appreciate a thoughtful and reflective story of family dynamics and grief.

Content Considerations: grief, loss of a mother. cancer, general tone of sadness

My Rating: 3 Stars

Crying in H Mart Information Here

Meet the Author, Michelle Zauner

Michelle Zauner is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from major music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). Her forthcoming album Jubilee will be released in June 2021. Her first book is Crying in H Mart, out now.

---

---

QOTD:

Is Crying in H Mart on your TBR or have you read it?

---

---

Happy Reading Book Buddies!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke

“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

---

---

Let’s Get Social!

Thank you for visiting and reading today! I’d be honored and thrilled if you choose to enjoy and follow along (see subscribe or follow option), promote, and/or share my blog. Every share helps us grow.

Find me at:
Twitter
Instagram
Goodreads
Pinterest

---

---

***Blogs posts may contain affiliate links. This means that at no extra cost to you, I can earn a small percentage of your purchase price.

Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

Book Cover and author photos are credited to Amazon or an author’s (or publisher’s) website.

© ReadingLadies.com